Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance has no intention of asking one of his deputies Mark James to stand down as vice-captain ahead of next week's planned players' meeting at Loch Lomond.

Acknowledging that a problem exists between James and Nick Faldo, Torrance revealed that he rang his predecessor as Europe's captain to "assess his feelings after all the newspaper speculation of the past few days."

But Torrance added there was no question of asking James - who wrote a controversial tell-all book in the wake of Europe's defeat to the United States at Brookline last September - to stand down. "There's a lot of saber bashing and drum rattling going on. A path with no obstacles never led anywhere and I believe it will all come out in the wash. Mark's intelligent and experienced, and that's why I asked him to be one of my vice-captains."

One of the first European ebusiness marketplace sites - buzzgolf.com - is to sponsor the North West of Ireland Open to be played at Slieve Russell on August 17th-20th. This "double badge" tournament, with equal representation from the European Tour and the Challenge Tour, carries a prizefund of £250,000 and a one-year exemption on the full tour for the winner.

"We're delighted to become a partner of the European Tour through the sponsorship of the North West of Ireland Open and we are confident that this partnership will develop further as Buzzgolf.com expands its services throughout Europe," said Dara O'Neill, chief executive of the title sponsors.